D&D’s Jeremy Crawford Shares Which Monsters Are His Favorite In The 2025 Monster Manual

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The 2025 has no shortage of newmonsters, but a couple in particular are nearest and dearest to lead designer Jeremy Crawford's heart. While a lot of the book focuses on remixing monsters with everything from minor tweaks to major overhauls, the completely new additions are naturally some of the most exciting changes. The shiniest options tend to be the new high-level threats, and both of Crawford's picks comes from that selection.

In an interview with , Jeremy Crawford responded to a question about his favorite new monster by reiterating his love for the Blob of Annihilation, which he calls his "," and gushing over the Arch-Hag. Both of these monsters could easily spell doom for low-level parties, with Challenge Ratings of 23 and 21, respectively.

Elaborating on the appeal of the Arch-Hag, Crawford referred to the split potential for Hags to be either combative foes or dubious allies. The new high-level version "" while highlighting the uphill battle of actually attempting to fight one and the long-term repercussions that could result.

The Blob of Annihilation recently gained a starring role in promotional material for the 2025, and it's not hard to see why. Its "" is undeniably memorable, but if it sounds like a goofy threat, the artwork of it looming over a city with the skull of a dead god inside its amorphous form should quickly quell any laughter.

There's a lot that's new in the 2025 Monster Manual, but one feature that the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide skipped isn't returning here.

Meanwhile, the Arch-Hag juices up the more typical threats provided by run-of-the-mill hag varieties, collecting abilities from across multiple hag toolkits and boasting a couple of legendary actions to boot. The fey creature is intended to convey the sense of dark power that figures like the Baba Yaga have inspired in both folklore and past material.

I'm lucky enough to already have a copy of the 2025 in my hands, and I'm in agreement that the Blob of Annihilation and Arch-Hag are